A/N: Play the Advent Children version of One-Winged Angel for the ice cream shop scene. You're welcome.

It's pretty funny how drastically things can change over the span of such a short amount of time.

Before the Island Festival, Amaya was just Sora's cute older sister. Three weeks later? She's one of two girls I've considered beautiful in my nineteen years, I'm dating her, and I bought her a bouquet of flowers.

I'm turning into a total sap.

Sora said something about buying her chocolates, but a) that would make this shit about a hundred or so times cornier, and b) I already wasted enough munny on these flowers. And let me tell you, chocolates do not come cheap. A decent box comes in at around 300 munny, which, sure, isn't anywhere near a fortune, but still far too much for a puny little parcel of desserts if you ask me.

Still, I can't help but feel obliged to get something…comparable.

Sora and Kairi need to stop invading my conscience.

Anyway, let's see, what around here would suffice?

Well, well, well, what a stroke of good luck for me! Twilight Ice Cream Parlor is right across the street. Hm, although, I'm not really sure what her favorite ice cream flavor is. Or Haru's, for that matter—can't forget about that kid. Then again, everyone's been raving about that new sea-salt flavor. Haven't gotten a chance to try it myself, but Kairi was gushing over how good the bar Sora bought her the other day was. "Salty, but sweet!"

Pretty sure she was talking about ice cream, anyway.

Anyway, why the hell not? Ice cream bars are cheaper than chocolate anyway, and I won't feel Sora subconsciously berating my being for forgetting to bring his sister some sort of dessert.

I look both ways and cross the street. Most people don't really use their cars on the island, unless you're going to the other side of the coast or something, so I get across pretty quickly.

I open up the door and a bell sounds, probably to alert whoever's up front there's a customer. There're a couple kids here with their parents, sitting and eating at tables, although they look like they're eating and trying to get out of here as quickly as possible. Lucky me, though, there's no line.

"Hi there," I greet the lady manning the register.

"What do you want?" she deadpans. What a bi—well, who knows? Maybe she's having a bad day. "And that pathetic flower bouquet probably isn't gonna get you laid tonight."

Yep. She's a total bitch.

It's not like she's hot enough for me to let it slide, either. I mean, not that I'd be checking her out or anything, I have a girl. But, hey, I'll be the first to admit that it's a lot easier to get away with asshole-ish antics when you're on the good-looking side.

This bitch though? Looks like she was gang-banged by some four-year-old's crayon box. That, along with the receding hairline, saggy face and…well, saggy everything, to be honest, she'd be lucky if a guy bought her a toilet plunger to try and get it with her.

Although, even that might be more value than it's worth.

But that's none of my business.

Still, while I could be an asshole back, I'd rather just get out of here ASAP, so I'm just gonna go the disgustingly polite route.

I pause to look at her name tag, because apparently people are friendlier when you call them by name. "Well, there, Mary Sue—and, might I say, what a lovely name—"

"Cut the shit and tell me what you want," she scowls. Well then.

"Three sea-salt ice cream bars, please," I finish, coolly. Definitely not giving her the satisfaction of knowing how absolutely appalling she and her attitude are, because for some reason, I think it turns this bitch on.

She reaches into a cooler behind her and grabs three bars and throws 'em on the counter.

"150 munny," she huffs.

"Here ya go," I hand over the coins, making sure not to touch her hand 'cause yuck. She hastily puts 'em in the drawer of the cash register.

As much as I don't want to ask…

"Um, could I get a bag for these?" She raises her eyebrows like I'm crazy, and reaches under the register without breaking eye contact. I hear her rip off a plastic bag. She throws it onto the table, on top of the ice cream.

"Scram," she glowers.

Well, no tip for you. Or from anyone, for that matter—sure enough, the tip jar's empty.

I hastily shove the bars into the bag and turn to leave. I also now realize why the parlor's empty. Sheesh.

Whatever, I got what I needed. And hey, I only spent half the munny I would have if I bought chocolate, so there's that. I'd say it was worth it. Now I gotta get to Sora's house before the ice cream melts.

Luckily, it's not too long of a walk. Five minutes later, I find myself climbing up the stairs of the front porch.

Time for my Saturday night to begin.

I hold the flowers behind my back in one hand, while I use the other one that's carrying the bag with the ice cream bars to ring the doorbell. And now, I wait.

Hm…wonder how Amaya's gonna react when she sees me. After all, I'm only still getting to know her. Everyone's different when it comes to surprises, I suppose. She doesn't seem like the type to hate them, but then again, you never know.

Oh, looks like the doorknob's turning. Door's opening…

"Oh, Riku!" says a surprised female voice.

"Hey," I greet. Sure enough, it's Amaya at the door, but… "Is this a bad time?"

She definitely isn't prepared for a visitor, that's for sure. She's dressed in a black tank top (Doesn't look like she's wearing a bra; now that is something I can't complain about. I mean, this girl has a rack.), cactuar-patterned pajama pants, and her hair's up in a really messy looking bun.

"Huh?" she asks. She still looks a little dumbstruck.

The thing that's actually concerning me, though, are the really dark circles under her eyes and that brown gooey patch on her left cheek. Seriously, what is that? Is there some horrifying disease she has that I wasn't aware of?

"Are…you feeling okay?" I ask.

I immediately get a sense that I shouldn't have said that. From a distance, I can hear Kairi berating me and threatening to rip my balls off. Oops.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine, why...um…wait, no, where are my manners?! C-come right on in!" She's totally freaking out as she lets me in through the door. That still doesn't explain why she looks…the way she does.

I walk into the entryway; it's nothing fancy, but you can definitely tell it's a cozy house. The house opens up almost immediately to the staircase to the upper level; there's some standing room and a little rack on the side for shoes. The floor opens up on the left side, where there's a little hallway and two entrances to other rooms: a small one to the dining room and a big entryway to a pretty spacious, well-kept living room. A few feet behind the staircase is the entrance to the kitchen.

"Sorry for barging in unannounced," I apologize. "I was just thinking it would be cool to maybe hang out with you here tonight."

"No, it's totally not a problem! Th-that's really sweet of you! Oh and, uh, sorry, I was giving myself a little facial treatment," she explains, pointing to the brown glob on her cheek. Oh, right, girls and their weird beauty treatments.

I'm making sure to look her in the face, but she crosses her arms over her chest, probably for good measure.

"The stress during the exams must have made me break out a little bit…um, not that you needed to know that! But, um, if you don't mind waiting down here for a couple of minutes I can get changed in a jiffy!" She's so flustered, she hasn't even noticed all the stuff I brought. Before I point it out—I mean, come on, I went through some shit to get this crap, and we need to get that ice cream into the freezer—when I hear footsteps coming around from the living room.

"It's Riku! Riku, what are you doing here!?" shouts an energetic little voice. It's none other than Haru.

Girl is the spitting image of her older brother. Seriously, she's his clone. Same blue eyes, stupid grin, straight nose, same brown hair color…honestly, just spike this kid's hair up with a bottle of gel and you probably couldn't tell her and the younger version of Sora apart.

"I came to hang out with you guys tonight," I reply, as I stoop down to her level. Kid looks like she's gonna burst with excitement.

"Oh, hey, do you mind watching her while I go up and look more…um…presentable?" Amaya asks, arms still crossed. She still looks so embarrassed. It's pretty funny.

"Don't worry about it," I reply. I could be cruel and say no, but, contrary to dear Mary Sue's opinion, I actually think I have a shot at some real fun tonight, and something tells me that doing that could potentially ruin it.

"Alright, I'll be right back down!" She runs up the stairs in a flash.

"What's in your hand, Riku? And what's behind your back?!" Haru interrogates. Right, I had the flowers behind my back the whole entire time. "Is anything for me?!"

"Hm? Oh, well, I bought the three of us some ice cream," I reply, as I raise the bag to show her.

"What kind?!" Her being mini-Sora also means she's obnoxiously energetic and curious.

"Sea-salt. Have you had it before?"

"Sora bought it for me before! It's so good! Can I have it now?!" She starts jumping up and down in excitement.

This might be a long night.

"Um, well, why don't we wait for Amaya to come back down? Then the three of us can have it together," I suggest. Her face falls a little. "And, hey, it's pretty hot right now, so I think some of it might have melted. Why don't we put it in the freezer and take it back out when it's nice and frozen again?"

"Oh, okay!" She buys it. Sweet. "Take off your shoes! And then let's go to the kitchen!" She starts running towards the wide entrance behind the stair case.

I kick my shoes off and walk behind her. She's so much smaller than me; even though she's practically sprinting, we reach the kitchen at pretty much the same time.

Their kitchen is pretty big. It almost spans the width, and probably a good third, of the first floor of the house. Sora's mom loves to cook and entertain, though, so it makes sense. There's a big island in the middle with some barstools; Sora and I usually grub there whenever we're hanging out here. And something smells absolutely delicious. I notice the sandwich press on the countertop, and I'm pretty sure it's the aroma of grilled cheese in the air.

Haru goes straight to the fridge, and tries to jump to reach the handle to the freezer on top. I can't help but chuckle. It's pretty hilarious.

"Riku! I can't reach it! Can you help me?!" she whines.

"Coming," I reply. I place the flowers on the smooth, grey countertop on the island and walk over to open the freezer.

As I put the ice cream inside, Haru runs over to climb up one of the barstools.

"Ooh, Riku, are these for Amaya?!" she asks, pointing to the aster bouquet.

"Huh? Oh, yeah. You think she's going to like them?" Not that I really know this kid's opinion is reliable or anything, though.

"She likes pink flowers," she states. Well, if only I had known what her favorite flowers looked like before. Whatever, at least there're a couple of pink ones in that bouquet. Still not sure if those are the ones. "Riku, are you going to ask Amaya to marry you?!"

Wait, what?

Heh, I must have not heard her right.

"Sorry, what?" Did this kid…no, she wouldn't have asked me that. That doesn't even make sense.

"Last time I went to the flower store with Sora to buy Kairi flowers, he said that he was going to marry her! So, if you buy flowers for someone that means you want to marry them, right?" she reasons.

Oh, Lord, my best friend's a total sap. But screw that right now. How do I get out of this without crushing this little girl?

"Um, well, I think we're…too young for that," I reply. That's a good, easy way to let her down, right?

"But Sora's younger than you!" she exclaims, like it actually means something.

Do I hit her with reality, or…?

Wait, what's that smell?

"Uh-oh," says Haru, eyes wide as she looks at the source of the stench of burning: the sandwich press. Looks like there's some smoke coming out of it, too.

"Crap," I mutter under my breath, as I go over to unplug it. Sora's burned enough things in this kitchen for me to know to turn on the exhaust vent to prevent the headache-inducing smoke alarm from going off.

"Oh my gosh!" I hear Amaya yell, footsteps rapidly banging down the stairs. I hear her come into the kitchen by the time the exhaust is on. "Darn it! I can't believe I forgot about those!"

I open up the sandwich press, and…well, let's just say, these grilled cheese sandwiches are a little too black and crispy for my taste. Or any person's taste, for that matter. They're burnt to a crisp.

"Darn, and we only have, like, four slice of bread left," Amaya laments. I feel her shoulder brush against mine as she inspects the damage that's been done. I glance over and—

"Damn, you clean up good," I observe. I don't know what she did with those bags under her eyes, but they've disappeared into oblivion. In fact, her skin's pretty much flawless; aside from that little bump where that brown goo was before (probably that zit she was trying to get rid of…although, it's not red and gross or anything, it's the same color as her skin…girls and their magic powers, man), and it gives off this kind of glow. Her hair's down, which I'll admit, I totally prefer. I don't know what it is, but that thick, long, dark hair just does something to her looks. That, combined with the little blue-green top and black-and-white polka dot skirt (or is the whole thing a dress? I don't know shit about girls' clothes), and she is a completely different person from the frazzled girl who opened the door for me. I dig it.

"Aw, thanks!" she replies, beaming as she gets up on her tip-toes to give me a peck on the cheek. Well, there's one thing going totally my way so far tonight. I notice her brow furrow when she pulls away. "Hm…maybe there's something else in the fridge?" She walks over to said kitchen appliance.

"Do we have anything to eat?!" asks Haru, as she runs up to inspect the fridge with her sister.

"Hm…yogurt…some fruits…seems like the only veggies we have are carrots and broccoli…chicken's in here to defrost, but I don't know how to cook meat…" she thinks aloud. "Hm, are you good at cooking, Riku?" She looks up at me, hope gleaming in her eyes.

Isn't that supposed to be your job? That knocks you down a couple of pegs down the potential wifey scale.

But, of course, I'd sound like some sort of sexist pig if I said that out loud.

"I can put those premade, precut cookie dough things in the oven," I shrug. Mom taught me when I was in, like, the fourth grade and had to make some for some bake sale.

Amaya just sighs, ignoring my quip.

"So we don't have anything to eat?!" Haru cries.

"I can make you another grilled cheese sandwich, baby," Amaya says gently, as she turns to her give her little sister a reassuring pat on the head. "But, hm…for me and Riku…"

"Heh, you know, not to sound rude or anything, but I would think that you of all people would know how to cook," I point out. She raises up an eyebrow at me. Shit, gotta choose my words carefully here. I can already feel Kairi threatening to castrate me from miles away."N-Not that I expect you to cook for me, or anything. I just…I don't know, you've got that sort of…personality for it, if you know what I mean." You're a girly know-it-all.

"Cooking never really piqued my interest…I mean, I can follow a recipe, but it's not like we could come up with a filling or tasty meal with just carrots, broccoli, mangoes, coconuts, and berries, unless you have any brilliant ideas," she shrugs. "There's chicken here, but raw meat kind of grosses me out," she cringes. "Still, you're right, I probably should learn how to really cook. And pay more attention when I do make things here."

"Just how often do you go around burning food?"I smirk as I cock up an eyebrow.

"Amaya burns more food than Sora does!" Haru sniggers. Her sister's face turns bright red.

Damn, I think she just went down a couple more pegs.

"Like I said, cooking never really piqued my interest," Amaya huffs, as she closes the door to the fridge. "When I do it, I tend to forget that I've left something in or on an appliance and…well, anyway, I'm so sorry about this!" she turns to me. "I got so distracted, and I sort of forgot that I had the sandwiches in there."

"It's really not that big of a deal," I shrug. I was planning on becoming rich enough for me to hire a personal chef in the future, anyway.

"No, you came all the way here and I can't even give you a good dinner!" Oh, right, that's what she was talking about. Her face falls. I feel bad, she's taking it real hard. Before I can say anything to attempt to remedy the situation, she starts up again. This time, she's beaming. "Well, no point in sitting here complaining about it. Let's order some takeout, my treat! What kind of food would you like?"

"Let's get pizza!" says Haru, jumping up and down excitedly.

"Baby, let's let Riku decide. He's the guest, after all," Amaya replies, stooping down to her level.

"Riku, can we get pizza?!" she turns to me with these giant puppy-dog eyes. Amaya slaps herself on the forehead.

"I could go for a good ham and pineapple pizza myself," I reply, coolly. It's true; haven't had it in a while. And, I mean, I'd be heartless if I said 'no' to this kid, right? She looks like she's ready to burst at the seams with excitement right now.

"You sure, Riku? It's totally and completely up to you," Amaya interjects, with a tone of concern in her voice.

"Yeah, it's my favorite kind. Oh, and breadsticks would be cool, too," I reply.

"Alright, I'll put in an order. We can each get personal pizzas! Haru, what kind of pizza would you like?"

"Onion and anchovies!" she shouts. And with that, she runs off into the living room.

"Ugh, she really is mini-Sora," Amaya cringes. Yeah, Sora has a knack for liking strange toppings on his pizza, too. "Hm, do you have your phone on you? I think I left mine up in my room."

"Yeah," I reply.

"Mind if I borrow it to make the order?" she asks.

"As long as you don't go through snooping," I wink, as I hand it over to her.

"But I need to make sure you don't have any hidden sexts or pictures of naked girls," she contemplates overdramatically. Pfft, silly woman, I outgrew that when I was, like, seventeen.

Okay, fine, I have some saved on my laptop back at home. But those are only for when I'm desperate, which I can proudly say is not very often.

Okay, fine, so I've had to resort to them more frequently than normal over the course of the past few months. What can I say? College kept me busy from meeting a lot of new people. Anyway, back to the original point. No smut on my phone.

"Oh, you caught me." I put my hands up in surrender. She just rolls her eyes at me while she starts dialing the number, smirk still on her face.

I lean back on the countertop as I watch her put the phone to her ear. Her eyes shift around the room as she places a hand on her hip and taps her foot, while she waits for someone to pick up on the other end. Her eyes meet mine, and a smile creeps up on her lips.

"What are you looking at?" she inquires.

"You just look really cute tonight, that's all," I reply. It is the truth.

She blushes as her smile gets even bigger.

She opens her mouth to say something to me, but it looks like she's been interrupted by someone finally picking up on the other end.

"Oh, hi! I wanted to order some delivery," she chirps.

Oh, hey, I almost forgot. Haru's not here.

Time for a little bit of fun to ensue.

"Yes, I wanted to order three personal pizzas, please! One with pineapples and ham, one with anchovies and—eep!" she squeaks when I lean in and kiss her temple.

Oh, honey, that's just the beginning.

I wrap my arms around her and pull her in closer, while I kiss her face over and over. I make a trail to her lips, and I can feel her breathing getting more rapid the closer I get.

Make-out sesh: start!

…Or so I thought.

I aim to plant my lips to hers, but instead, I'm greeted by the soft palm of her hand.

"Sorry about that!" she apologizes to whoever's on the other line. Oh, right, she's on the phone. She pulls her hand away from me and tries to give me a disapproving look with her eyes, but the smile on her face tells me otherwise. 'Wait,' she mouths.

Oh, I am liking where this is going.

She starts playing with the zipper on one of the pockets of my jacket as she continues. "Ahem, yeah, so one pizza with pineapples and ham, one with anchovies and onions, and another with barbeque chicken, please! And could I also get a side order of breadsticks with each one of those? Awesome! Thirty minutes? Sounds good! Alright, thank you so much! Take care! Bye!" She hangs up the phone.

"Couldn't keep your hands off me, huh?" she smirks, while she puts my phone into the back pocket of my jeans. Her hand lingers there a little longer than it needs to.

"You're one to talk," I retort. I pull her in a little closer, and go in again to continue where I left off. Her hand hasn't left my ass.

I am loving where this is going.

"Amaya! Did you order something for PuPu too?!" Haru screams as I hear her run into the kitchen. My lips barely brush her older sisters' when she pulls away. "Ew, were you guys kissing?!" the kid cringes, shielding her plushie's eyes. Amaya giggles as she releases herself from my hold.

Cockblocked. Dammit.

Wait. That doll.

"Isn't that…the doll from the festival?" I ask, turning to Amaya.

"Yep!" she nods. "Apparently, when Sora and Kairi 'disappeared,' they were actually just hiding behind that booth!" Goddamn I should have known. "Sora told me that he wanted you to win the plushie for me—which, by the way, I'm really glad you didn't, 'cause that would probably have made you seem even more socially awkward than you did at that point—so, when you didn't do that, he felt bad and won it for me himself. Haru seemed to like it a little more than I did, though, so I ended up giving it to her."

Dammit. If only I had warned Sora.

That toy really could mean bad business. Who knows what kind of voodoo magic crap Lulu could have put into it?

What if it ruins the night? And…

"…Wait, socially awkward?" I scowl.

"I know, it was a surprise to me, too, since you have a reputation for being so smooth," she winks, playfully punching me on the arm.

"Amaya!" Haru whines, before I can think of a good come-back. Kid keeps getting in the way, man."What about PuPu?"

"Well, baby, why don't you share your pizza with it—er, her?" Amaya asks Haru.

"Hmm…" Haru stares at the doll intently, like she's communicating telepathically with it. He climbs up onto one of the barstools and sets the doll on the island counter.

"Oh, where did these come from?" Amaya asks, perplexed as she walks over and picks up the aster bouquet.

Oh, right. I almost forgot about those.

"Riku bought them for you!" Haru chirps.

"Aww, this is so sweet!" Amaya beams, turning to me. "They're lovely."

"I hoped you'd like them," I smile back. I watch her examine the bouquet.

"Aster flowers, huh?" she smirks. "Why these?"

"Roses were too expensive," I shrug. She gives me a playful glare. "Well…alright, I'll be honest. I kind of forgot what your favorite flowers were." Her glare deepens. "But I remembered that pretentious 'language of flowers' spiel you gave me, and so I, being the amazing, caring person that I am, sifted through the whole entire store and looked for the ones I thought suited you best."

"Oh? So why, specifically these?" she inquires, cocking up an eyebrow and clearly not taking any offense at any of the shots I've taken at her. That smug smirk is still on her face.

"He wants to marry you, duh!" Haru interjects.

What.

Shit.

Dammit.

Shit.

Crap.

Shit.

FU—

"Where did you get a silly idea like that, Haru?" Amaya giggles. I'm walking on thin ice here.

"Apparently, Sora said something about wanting to marry Kairi while he was buying her flowers one time," I shrug, trying to come off as casual as possible.

"What a sap," she scoffs. "I mean, as adorable as they are as a couple, sometimes I want to throw up when I'm around them." This girl knows. Amen.

"So if you buy someone flowers—" Haru starts.

"It doesn't mean you want to marry them, silly," Amaya replies, ruffling her little sister's hair. "You usually buy someone a ring when you want to ask them to marry you."

"Oh!" Haru shouts in epiphany.

I seriously just dodged a bullet here.

"So, why did you buy these again?" Amaya asks again, turning to me. Oh, right.

"The card said 'patient' and 'daintiness,'" I start. Making sure to leave out the other atrocious symbolism on the card, of course. "I thought that suited you pretty well, because in my opinion you are quite feminine, and you tend to put up with the annoying yet awesome quips I come up with all the time," I shrug. She scoffs at the last comment, but I know she's kidding around. "And, 'aster' means star, and we talked about stars on one of our dates…"

Great, now I sound like a total sap.

"Aww, that actually is really cute," she beams again. Hey, if that's what she wants to call it."That's really sweet, Riku! Thank you so much!" She walks over and gives me a quick peck on the lips.

"Ewww," Haru cringes once again. Amaya giggles at her.

"Do you want to get me mom's vase from the dining room, baby?" she directs the question at her younger sister.

"Okay!" Haru runs out of the kitchen once again.

"Now that it's just the two of us again…" She gets up on her toes and leans in to kiss me again. It's light, gentle and doesn't last too long—nothing fancy—but something about it takes my breath away.

Her lips are so damn soft.

"What's Haru's bed time?" I ask, a little dazed.

"Hm, I usually try to put her down around ten," she chuckles. I glance over at the oven, which has a digital clock on it.

Only 7:45? Dammit.

"I can try to put her to bed a little earlier tonight, though," she winks, as she starts walking over to the sink. Oh, hell yes. Looks like Sora isn't the only one gettin' some tonight!

"By the way," Amaya says as she turns to me as she unwraps the flowers, before I can outwardly gloat. "Make a mental note: like I told you two days ago, my favorite flowers are azaleas, you dork."

Oh, right. Azaleas. Dammit, that name isn't even that hard.

"Hey, at least I got the first letter right," I shrug. She just shakes her head, smile still on her face.

"I'm just playing around with you," she giggles. "These are beautiful, too. And, like you said that day, it really is the thought that counts. I can tell you took some time picking these out. Thank you so, so much again!" I find myself cracking a smile.

…I'll admit. Even though they were kind of expensive…well, it's corny, but seeing her react like this…I think it was worth it.

"Here you go Amaya!" Haru comes busting in through the kitchen entrance holding this small, cylindrical pink vase.

"Thank you!" Amaya takes the vase as Haru reaches her at the sink. She turns the tap on and begins filling the vase up with water.

"They're so pretty, Amaya!" Haru ogles.

"Yeah! Hey, did you know that, even though they look like daisies, aster flowers are actually a type of sunflower?"

"I love sunflowers!" Haru shouts. Of course she does—they're the bright happy flowers that I avoided buying because they reminded me of her older brother. Then again, it's kind of funny. Just like you couldn't tell Sora and Amaya were related at first glance, I guess you wouldn't guess that about these flowers, either.

I see what you did there, universe. Well-played.

"How do you know so much about flowers, anyway?" I inquire. I mean, come on, of all things someone could be interested in…

"I went out with Lumaria for a couple of weeks in high school," she replies, as she glances over at me.

"Wait, really?" I try my best to stay composed, but the thought of those two together is kind of shocking. Believe me, I could care less about Amaya's dating history (unless she's some sort of serial murderer, in which case, bye!), but… "He doesn't really seem like your type."

"Hm, well, I don't really think I have a specific type," she responds, while she turns the tap off. "He seemed really nice at the time, and I thought his fascination with flowers was kind of sweet. But it ended up getting kind of annoying, since he was obsessed. He took me to flower gardens and rambled on about them, like, every other day. It was interesting at first, but it got to be a little excessive. I learned enough to practically be a pro-florist in the span of, like, two weeks! That, and…well, I was pretty sure he was confused, if you get what I mean."

"Oh, right, didn't he come out a couple months ago?"

"Yep!" she giggles. "So I can definitely say I made the right call on that one."

"Who came out of what?" Haru interjects. Oh, right, almost forgot she was here.

"Your sister's old friend came out of the closet," I reply.

"What were they doing in a closet?" she inquires, clearly confused. Oh, right, five-year-old.

"Playing hide-and-seek!" Amaya chimes, although it sounds more like a suggestion than anything.

"We should play hide-and-seek!" Haru chirps, as she starts jumping up and down.

"Hm, how about after dinner, baby? The pizza should be here soon. Why don't you watch some TV until then?"

"Okay." And with that, the little girl runs back to the living room.

"As much as I hate making the TV doing the babysitting…well, about twenty minutes 'til dinner, anyway. It shouldn't be that big of a deal. Hopefully she'll forget about it about it by then, anyway," Amaya thinks aloud.

"Hide-and-seek?" I cock up an eyebrow at her.

"I didn't really know what else to say," she confesses. "I mean…I guess it really isn't a big deal, but I'm pretty bad at explaining that kind of stuff to her."

"You could have just said, 'he's a guy that likes other guys,' or something simple along those lines."

"I guess. I just get super flustered when I try to explain things like that to her, 'cause I'm scared that she'll start asking other questions that I'm not sure I'll be able to handle."

"You freak out way too much," I sigh.

"Well, not everyone's as good at being nonchalant about things as you are," she replies, playfully punching me on the arm.

"Well, hey, better off for me in the long-run. Isn't being perpetually stressed-out bad for your heart or something?" I ask the bio whiz.

"Yeah, it can raise blood pressure. But come on, I'm nowhere near that bad!" she pouts.

"So if I start talking about how finals went—"

"I don't wanna hear it!" she huffs. "Besides, it's not like school's my entire life," she mutters, as she starts arranging the flowers in the vase.

"Well, you seemed a little stressed when I came—"

"'Cause I wasn't expecting you!"

"—and you flipped when you burned the grilled cheese—"

"For like a second!"

"—and now you're stressing about your little sister growing up," I snort.

"Those are totally normal things to freak out about!"

"Yes, but Amaya, don't forget, being best friends with your brother means I have dirt on you." I mean, come on, I wasn't going into this without doing a little bit of a background check.

"Like what?" She looks genuinely concerned.

"Alright, exhibit 1: Apparently, before we went to the Hidden Dragon, you nearly had a panic attack because you couldn't figure out what to wear."

"Oh, come on, that's an exaggeration," she scoffs.

"Who tries on ten outfits and has to redo their makeup three times to go out on a date?"

"Shut up, I hadn't been on a date in like, a year! And did I not look good in the end?"

"You were beautiful as always," I reply sarcastically. She just rolls her eyes. "No, seriously, you looked great. But anyway, that's just me getting started. Exhibit 2: the time Sora broke his wrist when he was like, seven. Apparently, you cried more than he did in the hospital."

"I was scared for him!"

"Unless you have some sort of weird sixth sense that lets you feel all your brother's pain or something ridiculous like that, I don't think that's really a normal reaction," I reason. She just pouts. "Speaking of sixth senses, didn't Sora one time make you freak out because he pretended that he could see dead people?"

"Weren't you the one who gave him the idea?" she scowls.

Oh, yeah. I was. It was a super boring summer day when I was around seven, and I was hanging out here with Sora. I was never really close to Amaya, but I was in a mischievous mood. When I saw her sitting in a corner of the living room, minding her own business and caught up in reading some book, I couldn't help but want to ruin her perfect bliss. I convinced Sora to pretend he could see dead people and tell her that there was one following her around everywhere. I didn't think he would play the part so well.

From what I recall, girl couldn't sleep for two weeks straight.

"That's probably why we weren't friends growing up," I hunch over start to cackle. She just stands there, arms crossed, with a disappointed look.

"That also doesn't qualify as over-stressing!" she huffs, lightly bopping my head with her fist. "That was justified paranoia, caused by you, you asshole."

"You're dating this asshole now," I smirk.

"I like to think it's 'cause you've changed after twelve years," she pouts.

"And your assessment?"

"You're still kind of a cocky asshole," she shrugs, as she picks up the flower vase. …Can't really argue with that one. "I do like the occasional cheesy side of you, though." She sniffs the asters, smiling at the fragrance. "And I guess our conversations can be pretty interesting, although you get on my nerves sometimes." She sets the vase in the center of the island.

"Part of the charm," I reply. She just shakes her head, smile on her face.

"Can't argue with you there, I guess," she giggles. "I'm really happy getting to actually know you. You're a lot different from the impressions I got from all the girls that would talk about you."

"Oh?"

"Well, Sora always said good things about you, but he says good things about everyone, so I sort of just started believing all the gossip from girls at school. You know, that you'd hook up a lot and couldn't really be tied down, that sort of stuff."

"So what made you change your opinion?" I ask, genuinely curious.

"Just hanging out with you that day, at the Island Festival…we didn't spend that much time together, but even in that short span, you just came off a lot different than I had expected. And, hey, I hadn't been on a date all year! I had a feeling you were kind of into me, and, well, with a little confirmation and help from Kairi—"

"Bitch blew my cover!" I interject.

"Not that there was much cover to blow," she sniggers. I just sigh. That girl's got another thing coming.

Suddenly, there's a loud thud from the living room.

"Oh my gosh!" Amaya cries as she runs over to inspect. I follow behind her.

"Haru, baby, are you okay?" Amaya panics. "Are you hurt? What happened!?"

"Um…" I hear the little girl say. I finally reach the room, to see her perfectly fine. She's holding the remote in her hand; looks like the back of it is missing. Some cartoon is playing on the TV.

"Did you drop the remote on the floor?" I ask, calmly. She nods her head.

"As long as you're okay," Amaya lets out a sigh of relief, as she walks over to find the back part of the remote near the foot of the sofa.

"Like I said about you over-reacting—"

"Oh, don't even start, you!" she glares at me.

"Sorry, Amaya!" Haru apologizes. "I was talking to PuPu and I forgot the remote was in my hands and then it fell and made this really loud 'bang' noise!"

"It's okay, as long as you're fine," Amaya smiles, giving her a kiss on the forehead.

"Can you watch the show with me? Please?" she pleads.

"Of course, baby, it's my job to spend time with you tonight anyway! Riku, come on!" She sits down on the couch and pats the spot next to her, gesturing at me to come sit down.

Totally not how I planned my Saturday night to go, but I'll roll with it. That's how it's been so far, anyway.

My phone begins to vibrate in my pocket as I walk over to join the two on the couch.

"Looks like I'm getting a call," I tell her, as I reach to pull out my phone.

"Go ahead, we'll be here," she replies, as she turns to play with Haru. I walk back into the kitchen and look to see the words: Incoming Call: Sora. Shouldn't he be on his way to get it on with Kairi by now?

"Hello?" I say, as I pick up the call. I'm curious to know what's going on. Not often Sora calls me on dates. He can't be that nervous, right?

"Riku!" Sora replies. He sounds panicked.

"What's up bro? Everything okay?"

"Dude, I'm pretty sure Kairi and I are being followed!"

A/N: In which I attempt a cliffhanger. In which I attempt KH fanfic social commentary. In which my OC's start to take over. In which these chapters just get longer and longer and I just had to cut this off.

Hello, hello! Damn, it's been three weeks since I updated this story, so sorry! Life's kind of catching up to me haha so updates are probably gonna be a little slower on this than I had hoped. That, and I didn't really have a proper outline for this (or the next chapter or two). Yeah, we have two or three chapters left! (Depends on how long I can stretch this date out for before it starts to drag). Hope you're enjoying this! Let me know what you think of Amaya and Riku's relationship, as well as Haru (who will definitely have more screen-time in the next few chapters!) in a review!

Shoutouts to ultimatebrat, ANP Productions, mystic moogle, and SoraXKairi7 for your reviews! And thank you to everyone who's faved/followed so far, your feedback really means a lot, thank you so much!